WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Order
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 169: Memories of Ascension
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Elbridge answered.
"What do you mean, how's it coming along...? Nothing special. The same goes for Orion, who taught me this combat art."
Niserath raised an eyebrow.
"Elbridge, it sounds like you're thinking something strange."
"Something strange?"
"Nothing special? Orion is special. They're anything but ordinary."
Niserath folded their arms.
"Elbridge, you used to be active in the north, right? What was that fortress called again?"
An ordinary person's sense of time differed from Niserath's.
When Niserath said "back then," they meant over two hundred years ago.
"Are you referring to Hebron Fortress?"
"That's right. Hebron. When you were fighting around there and things went bad, you'd lure the demons away and retreat to Thornbush Forest, right?"
"Yes."
"When demons followed you into Thornbush Forest, who dealt with them? It was probably Orion."
Elbridge nodded.
Of every ten times he retreated to Thornbush Forest, Orion handled seven alone. Jin and Bella only showed up to help the other three or so.
"Orion can face demons alone that even highly regarded Paladins struggle to handle. They're far beyond the ordinary too. They only seem relatively normal because Jin and Bella are beside them. They'll Ascend before long."
"But when the sacred tree fell and Jin and Bella Ascended, Orion couldn't Ascend with them."
Niserath shook their head.
"Ascending as though you were waiting for that moment is the unusual part. Jin and Bella's Ascension had been decided long ago, so the moment the stake called the sacred tree was pulled out, they Ascended. In a few years, or perhaps a few decades, Orion will probably Ascend too."
Elbridge asked, "Doesn't someone Ascend as soon as they accomplish a feat worthy of rising to heaven? If they've already done so, why must they wait that long?"
"Normally, they do Ascend right away. But in Orion's case, an unwritten rule of heaven prevents them from Ascending immediately."
"An unwritten rule?"
Niserath looked around, then lowered their voice slightly.
"Heaven has something called Seniority Hierarchy."
"Seniority...? What is that?"
"Even if two people accomplish feats of equal standing, their order of Ascension can differ. Even if Orion had accomplished a greater feat than Jin and Bella, they couldn't have Ascended before them. That's likely why they couldn't Ascend with them."
Elbridge was impressed. Niserath was sharing such valuable information so readily.
Perhaps talk of heaven had driven away their drowsiness, because Sonia and Marcus were listening closely to Niserath as well. Niserath seemed pleased by their attentive audience.
"Ascension isn't as distant as you think. For someone like Orion, it would be stranger if they couldn't Ascend. You'd be surprised if you knew what insignificant feats some old divinities achieved before Ascending."
Marcus cut in with a question.
"What kind of feats did they accomplish to Ascend like that?"
It was the sort of question a god couldn't answer because of the restraints imposed by the Privacy Protection Act.
But Niserath wasn't a god and had no obligation to comply with the Privacy Protection Act.
"Gods like the God of the Brass Cup, who Ascended by working with brass, or the Wheel Goddess, who Ascended by inventing the wheel, were among the more respectable cases. Some divinities from the distant ancient era Ascended simply by leading a small village in harmony. When the Chief God needs gods and those are the only ones who stand out, they Ascend."
Elbridge felt a little sorry for Rombel and Niserath, who struggled so hard to Ascend.
If they had both been born a little earlier, they might have Ascended already.
The conversation paused.
Elbridge returned to the beginning of the discussion and sorted through his thoughts.
'So it's not normal for me to learn the Bella-style Combat Art.'
Still, when Elbridge had first met Niserath, Niserath had told him:
'Leonhardt? I only spoke with him once or twice. Come to think of it... You're the one Leonhardt mentioned. The person who could have Ascended but couldn't. Now I understand why he said that. You're someone worthy of rising to heaven.'
'I told you, I get a feeling just from seeing someone who seems likely to Ascend. You'll seize the opportunity for Ascension someday. If not in this life, then in the next.'
Elbridge asked Niserath, "You said before that I would Ascend someday. Could that be why I can feel divinity?"
Niserath answered firmly.
"No. Even those people couldn't handle divinity before receiving the Chief God's selection. At least, I've never seen it."
"Hmm."
"The Chief God's standards couldn't have changed in the meantime either... I don't know what's going on."
Niserath muttered to themself, sorting through their thoughts. Most of it was incomprehensible to Elbridge.
In Elbridge's experience, there was no need to struggle to understand things he couldn't understand.
There was only one thing he needed to know right now.
"Niserath."
"Hm?"
"Then should I stop learning the Bella-style Combat Art?"
Niserath shook their head without hesitation.
"No. I recommend that you keep practicing."
"Is there a reason?"
"Aren't you curious how it will end?"
It was nonsense. But it wasn't wrong.
When the conversation ended, the goddess's lullaby, which had stopped, quietly began again.
- The river flows quietly, erasing your footprints, and the stars cover you. Sleep, my child.
I will stay by your side until morning comes...
* * *
It took another three days to reach the area near the Lake of Eternity.
Elbridge looked around.
Perhaps because something had happened to the God of Flowing Water, there were few people in the villages around the lake.
He remembered the last sight of Isalvius, who had left with the sealing tool, saying he would find a way to restore the God of Flowing Water.
'Did Isalvius find a way?'
Probably not.
There was a high chance that even if he searched for the rest of his life, he would find nothing.
Still, Elbridge knew miracles existed.
He also knew that for something to be called a miracle, something unexpected had to happen.
The four stopped near the Lake of Eternity. It was Sonia's first time seeing it.
"You said the Lake of Eternity shows memories from the past, right?"
"That's right. Rombel and Marcus saw their strongest desires."
"Their strongest desires? What were they?"
"Rombel saw his dead wife. Marcus saw the older girl next door when he was young."
Sonia looked surprised.
"The older girl next door? Marcus, I didn't take you for such a devoted romantic."
Elbridge considered telling her that the older girl's face had been too blurry to recognize, and that the memory's focus had been fixed on a strange detail, but decided against it.
Niserath played with the glass bottle containing the Master of the Central Magic Tower's eyeball.
"Before we use the Master of the Central Magic Tower's eyeball, let's adjust the settings."
"Settings?"
"Let's make it show exactly what we want to see. If we tamper with it carelessly, something could go wrong with the Lake of Eternity. Someone, put your hand in the lake."
Elbridge looked at Marcus. Apparently unwilling to show Sonia his desire, Marcus quietly stepped back.
"Like this?"
Sonia put her hand into the Lake of Eternity. Ripples spread across the water, and soon the face of a middle-aged man appeared on its surface.
It was Sonia's father, Viscount Dickens. Sonia quietly withdrew her hand.
"What's wrong?"
"...I don't think I've sorted out my feelings yet."
Marcus had stepped back, and now Sonia had as well. Niserath didn't seem to intend to show their own memories.
That left only Elbridge.
Elbridge considered putting his hand into the lake, but decided to put Leonhardt's shield into it instead.
For some reason, he felt embarrassed at the thought of showing his old memories.
"When I put this shield into the Lake of Eternity before, I saw Sir Leonhardt Ascending."
"Good. That sounds like an interesting sight."
"But just as the Lake of Eternity was about to show heaven, something went wrong with it."
"Of course something went wrong. But you don't need to worry this time. Just take the shield out before it's too late."
It wasn't difficult to time when to pull the shield out.
Leonhardt had climbed the long stairway to heaven without hurrying.
"Wait a moment."
Niserath crouched beside the lake and swept away the dirt.
A thin, flat metal box appeared beneath the ground. When Niserath removed its lid, two large openings were revealed.
'A metal box with holes in it.'
Niserath put both hands into the openings. There seemed to be a device inside the box for adjusting the lake.
"All right. Let's begin."
Splash.
Elbridge lowered Leonhardt's shield into the lake.
The sight he had seen before appeared on the water's surface. Leonhardt, with blond hair and green eyes, stood there with a shield strapped to his left arm.
A stairway leading to heaven stood before Leonhardt. When he stepped onto it, a pillar of light enveloped him. Sonia said,
"Oh..."
It was the sight Elbridge had seen before. Yet he could see a little more than he had then.
The most striking thing was Leonhardt's expression. This was the moment of his Ascension, so he should have been excited, but Leonhardt only looked calm.
Leonhardt climbed the stairs, and just before he entered heaven...
"That's far enough."
Niserath asked him to stop, and Elbridge pulled the shield out of the lake. The image on the water scattered.
Only then did he remember something.
'There's no certainty that what the Lake of Eternity shows is true.'
As far as Elbridge knew, Leonhardt couldn't have risen to heaven with the shield. Leonhardt had entrusted the shield to the dwarves of the mountain city for repairs before Ascending.
As a result, the dwarves were never paid for repairing it, and Elbridge had obtained Leonhardt's shield.
At the time, Elbridge had wanted to investigate the sight shown by the Lake of Eternity further, but the lake had stopped functioning and the matter had faded away. The God of Fox Rain had also warned him not to peek into heaven carelessly.
Elbridge asked, "Niserath."
"Hm?"
"Does this lake ever show lies?"
"It doesn't have a function like that. Why?"
"No, it's nothing."
Elbridge's thoughts grew tangled.
If the sight shown by the Lake of Eternity was true, how had Leonhardt risen to heaven with the shield?
'Did he throw the shield back down to the ground as soon as he entered heaven? No, that can't be it...'
Before Elbridge could sort through his thoughts, Niserath spoke again.
"All right, let's begin again."
Elbridge put the shield back into the lake. Leonhardt's image appeared on the surface again.
But Elbridge felt a strange sense of unease.
He couldn't tell what was causing it.
It was the sight he had just seen. Leonhardt holding the shield, the stairway leading to heaven, Leonhardt's blank expression, and his steps as he climbed the stairs.
'What is it?'
If Elbridge alone had felt something strange, it might have been his imagination. But he wasn't the only one who felt it now. Sonia said,
"Didn't something change?"
"What changed?"
"I don't know... His hairstyle? The length of his hair? His expression? No? What is it?"
Marcus provided the answer.
"I think the background is different. Wasn't it a grassy field before?"
"...Huh?"
A moment ago, Leonhardt had Ascended in an empty meadow.
But now, the place where Leonhardt was Ascending was a barren plain, most likely somewhere in the north.
Niserath said, "Let's look again."
Elbridge took out the shield, then put it back into the lake.
Adjusting the Lake of Eternity no longer mattered. The four carefully observed the images that appeared above the water.
"...This time, it's obviously different."
It was Leonhardt again.
But this time, he wasn't alone. Leonhardt was Ascending before countless Knights.
It was confusing.
Elbridge repeatedly took out the shield and put it back into the lake.
Leonhardt Ascended in a forest.
Leonhardt Ascended without wearing armor.
Leonhardt Ascended while wearing armor marked with the insignia of an unfamiliar church.
And then, and then...
After witnessing new Ascensions over and over, the first sight of Ascension appeared on the water once more.
Leonhardt Ascending in a meadow while clad in armor.
Silence fell.
"..."
They could not be certain that the Ascensions they had seen so far were all of Leonhardt's Ascensions.
No, they certainly weren't all of them. These were only memories left within Leonhardt's shield.
If he had Ascended without the shield, that sight couldn't be confirmed through the shield.
And as far as Elbridge knew, Leonhardt had Ascended without the shield at least once.
"Huh. Hahaha."
Niserath's hearty laugh broke the silence.
"This madman, just how many times did he Ascend? Is he even human?"
Footnotes:
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